Happy Birthday to my Twin (who was born 3 years after me)

This is my beautiful sister Chelsie and today is her birthday. I can't believe she is 28 years old. She's growing up so fast lol. Chelsie doesn't have any kind of social media page because she believes Facebook is the devil hahahaha. No, really those were her words, but I get what she is saying. So since I can't post this on any age of hers I decided to write a blog post in honor of this wonderful day that she was born 28 years ago. Chelsie is not just my sister, but my best friend. Me and her is like peas and carrots (in my Forrest Gump voice). Even though we were born three years apart, she is like my twin. We laugh at the same stuff, listen to the same kind of music, believe the same things and we are both weird. Weird in a fantastic, out of this world, you wish you could be us way lol. One of the greatest things about our relationship is that we tell it like it is to each other and we don't ever fight. Of course I'm sure we got on each other's nerves as kids but I always remember it never lasted long. Probably one second later we were laughing again and making our family give us strange faces. I talk to her almost every day and some of the greatest conversations are when we call each other just to hear the other person laugh at something we KNOW they will laugh at. Whenever we get together the laughs are non-stop (which reminds of how our older sister would always complain to my mom about us not going to sleep cause we were too busy cracking up about stuff) and again so are the looks from our family members.......they're just jealous they're not as cool as us lol. I love that I can completely be myself around her because for me that's hard to come by. She gets me and I am very thankful for that.

Not only is she a great friend, but a great wife and she is a great Mom!! She is the mother to this beautiful, crazy, hilarious child, Lynnox. When people meet my son, they know he is MY SON and the same goes for Lynnox. She is definitely Chelsie's daughter. I'm very thankful that The Lord has given my niece a mom who loves The Lord and wants her child to know Him for herself. Chelsie and I had our little ones 6 weeks apart and whenever they get together, it's a riot. I wish we lived closer to them because I feel like those two together would be exactly how Chelsie and I are now. Ahhhhh Family, it's the greatest thing!!

Anyways, I just wanted to say to my wonderful sister, I LOVE YOU!! You are and have been a blessing in my life and I'm sure to many others. You have a very loving, kind, and giving spirit. I hope you have a very beautiful birthday and some wonderful GiGi's cupcakes to go with it. I had to post these pictures below because they are hilarious and they make me laugh every time I see them!!

Last, but not least here some of our inside jokes that only we get...

"WOW this is a Master!!"

"Stop eating my Sesame Cake!!"

"I know what t'mean"

"She likes it, she likes the way is feels, she like the..." (I can't stop laughing at this one)

"No, your Mother in Law"

And one of my favorites...

"She's the catalyst"

Oh man and that's not even all of them lol. I hope I see your face soon, love you!!

Friends, how many of us have them?

That's a good question right? We live in a world today where everyone is your "friend" or at least that's what Facebook or any other social media place tends to say. I mean I alone have 200+ "friends" on Facebook. I know everyone on that list because I just don't take random requests from people who I don't know or who I met just two seconds ago. Maybe that makes me a Facebook snob, but I just call it being protective of my business lol. Most people seem to get that. Anyways, out of all those friends, I would say I'm close to a few and when I say close I mean these are people who I talk to and open up to about things and vice versa. Some are people I've known for a long time and others not so long. I've noticed that as I've gotten older it's harder to make friends and that it's even harder to keep friends that you've known for a long time. I guess that's why I'm writing all of this. I find myself at times trying to keep friendships alive and being the only one that is making the effort. It's kind of hard to realize you're the only one putting in the effort. You may be thinking, well if you're the only one who seems to care then maybe you shouldn't be friends with them anymore. I have thought this myself. You know, just throw in the towel and stop trying to stay in touch because obviously you are the only one who cares to keep in touch. I have thought these things a lot and have seriously considered them, but would never go through with it. It wasn't because I was so desperate for this person to remain my friend, but because The Lord kept telling me, that's not right Courtney. I could just hear Him whispering to me, you shouldn't treat people poorly just because you're upset they aren't acting the way YOU want them to act. If I'm going to be a real friend to somebody then I need to be a REAL FRIEND!!

Don't get me wrong, He's not saying to me to just let people walk all over me or let myself get treated badly. That's not what I'm talking about here, although if someone did and they needed me for something as hard as it may be for me, I would need to step up and let God shine through me in that moment instead of walking away from someone in need just because they hurt me. What I'm talking about is still being a friend regardless of someone not calling me, not texting me, not sending me an email every now and then, not checking in, not agreeing with me, not showing they care, just not being the friend to me that I have been to them.

Writing this out makes me realize I may be coming off desperate for friends here or something lol. I have friends. I have real friends. This is more about me missing the friends I use to have, but learning that just because I may not be one of their friends anymore doesn't mean I still can't BE a friend to them. We all have busy lives and we can't always talk to someone or hang out, and I get that, but it's just lately I've been noticing who makes time and who doesn't. That can hurt, especially when someone means a lot to you. I don't know, maybe I'm the only one who feels this way at times....I doubt it, but maybe I'm the only one willing to say hey I miss those friendships. It's hard getting those connections as you get older and in my case older and weirder. I do know that I am very thankful for the people who love me and care for me and I am very thankful to know a God that tells me what it means to be a friend. I may not get it right all the time, as a matter of fact, I've gotten it wrong a lot, but if I just keep listening to Him I know that I will continue to learn how to have satisfaction in being a friend then having one.